Six Kornet anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon at a convoy of army and civilian vehicles traveling along a road about two kilometers from the northern border near Mount Dov. In the exchange of artillery fire that followed, a UNIFIL soldier from Spain was killed as well.

“I would like to send condolences to the families of the fallen and my best wishes for a full recovery to our wounded soldiers,” Netanyahu said. “Whoever is behind today’s attack will pay the full price.

“For some time, Iran – via Hezbollah – has been trying to establish an additional terrorist front against us from the Golan Heights.

“We are taking strong and responsible action against this attempt,” the prime minister continued. “The Lebanese government and the Assad regime share responsibility for the consequences of the attacks emanating from their territories against the State of Israel.

“In all of these events, our mission is to defend the State of Israel. Our only consideration is the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” Netanyahu emphasized. “Thus we have acted, and thus we will continue to act.”

The GOC Northern Command on Wednesday evening declared Israel’s northern border in the Golan Heights along the boundary with Syria to be a closed military zone.

The area affected stretches from Kibbutz Dafna in the Upper Galilee to the Druze town of Mas’ade in the northern Golan Heights. Included in the region are Kibbutz Dan, the border village of Ghajar, the Banias, Fort Nimrod, Neve Ativ, Majdal Shams and Mount Hermon.

The military announcement comes after the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror organization launched the most serious attack on northern Israel seen since the start of the Syrian civil war.

Two IDF soldiers were killed and six others were wounded, including two with serious injuries, in an afternoon-long battle between the IDF and Hezbollah guerrillas operating in southern Lebanon. In addition, a Spanish peacekeeper serving in the UNIFIL force since November 2014 was killed during the exchange of gunfire.

The IDF has confirmed that Hezbollah fired six Kornet anti-tank missiles at a convoy traveling in northern Israel, and not two as originally reported. Three hit the convoy; one hit a house in the Druze village of Ghajar, setting it afire.

The convoy was comprised of two IDF vehicles leading two civilian vehicles on a road returning from the area of Mount Dov. It appears that the goal of the attack – as in the 2006 cross-border raid that launched the Second Lebanon War – was to spark a military provocation that would be a distraction while Hezbollah terrorists abducted one or more IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians. Hezbollah also reportedly simultaneously directed a round of mortar shells at the area near Metullah and around Mount Hermon.

Because civilians were involved in the attack – as well as the two IDF vehicles that were incinerated when they were struck and the soldiers who were killed – the incident is being considered in a far more serious light.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened the Security Cabinet to discuss the ramifications of the attack and to decide how Israel should respond.

UNIFIL is meanwhile attempting to negotiate a resumption of the ceasefire that was arranged between the two sides to end the Second Lebanon War, and which was violated today (Jan. 28.)

UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) announced Wednesday afternoon it is trying to arrange a return to the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that Hezbollah broke with its attack earlier in the day.

One UNIFIL soldier from Spain was killed as a result of the battle launched against Israel from Lebanon by Hezbollah.

Israeli leaders have been discussing how to respond to the attack, termed a “severe” violation by all.

Five injured soldiers were evacuated to Ziv Medical Center in Tzefat, four with light wounds and one in fair condition. Four others were taken to Rambam Hospital, condition unknown, including one civilian. A number of civilians were also being treated at a clinic in Kiryat Shmona for trauma and severe anxiety.

IDF tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) were being trucked up to the north by mid-afternoon, local sources reported.

Heads of all security and defense departments are meeting with the prime minister and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz at the Kirya army base in Tel Aviv. All domestic flights within Israel have been grounded in accordance with security protocols.

Gunfire continues to be exchanged sporadically between IDF and Hezbollah forces across the northern border, although by 3 pm government sources said the situation had “calmed.”

Hezbollah-linked Al Manar TV officially announced the terror organization was responsible for the multi-pronged attack on northern Israel.

While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah to “look at Gaza” before continuing its attacks, opposition Labor party chairman Isaac Herzog expressed his support for decisions being taken by the security establishment. He told media the terrorists should not make the mistake of thinking that upcoming elections could divide the people of Israel at the bottom line.

After a day in which a double rocket attack sent security and military officials to evacuate nearly a thousand people, visitors are being invited to return to the Mount Hermon Ski Resort site.

The decision came in the wake of a security assessment by the IDF and managers of the ski resort. The site was closed for most of the day Tuesday after Code Red rocket alert sirens sounded throughout the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz has canceled his planned trip to a NATO conference in Europe, only a few hours away.

Israel’s security on the northern border has also been tightened following what was feared to be a terrorist infiltration Wednesday evening (Jan 21.)

Kibbutz security teams from Metulla to Malkiya combed the Ramim mountain range around 6 pm local time after five suspects were thought to have been spotted. Residents of communities in the area remained inside. Roads were sealed and IDF troops were sent to the area as well.

But after searching the area thoroughly, the IDF Spokesperson announced that no infiltration had occurred. Nevertheless, he asked residents to remain in their homes.

Tensions are rising in the wake of an attack on a Hezbollah convoy in Syria that killed six terrorists – including three commanders – and six members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Among the Iranian dead was a general.

The helicopter air strike, which fired two missiles, has been attributed to Israel although there has been no confirmation by the IDF.

South of Israel, the Hamas terrorist organization is working hard to figure out how to get in on the action and create another two-front war, as it did with Hezbollah in 2006.

“All of the forces of resistance must band together and unite against the Zionist enemy and its accomplices,” Deif reportedly wrote in the letter, Reuters reported. It was believed last summer that Deif had been eliminated by the IDF during its counter terror Operation Protective Edge, but despite conflicting reports Hamas has insisted since that day that Deif is still alive.

Likewise, Gaza’s de facto Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh also sent a letter to Nasrallah expressing his “deepest condolences,” according to Hezbollah-linked Al Manar TV. Haniyeh’s sorrow was to be conveyed to the “families of martyrs.”

Iran, which generously funds and equips both terrorist groups, has meanwhile warned Israel that “ruinous thunderbolts” await in the future.

The U.S. State Department has not been unmindful of these developments: a travel warning has been issued barring American foreign service personnel from approaching the northern borders with Lebanon and Syria. Nor can American public servants use public transportation anywhere in Israel at this time.

The terror stabbing attack Wednesday (Jan. 20) by a Palestinian Authority Arab man on a public bus in Tel Aviv has only exacerbated American administration fears about what lies ahead.

“Because of concerns about security on Israel’s northern borders, U.S. Government personnel are currently required to obtain advance approval if they wish to travel within 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) of the Lebanon border, or travel on or east of Route 98 in the Golan Heights,” the U.S. Embassy alert reads. Visitors from the United States have also been advised not to use public transportation in Israel.

Residents in northern Israel remain deeply concerned that terrorists are digging tunnels under the border, preparing for a future attack.

Although the IDF doesn’t discuss it much, the military is not ignoring the problem, and is quietly monitoring activity along the border.

The question is, what’s happening underneath?

Last week (Tuesday, October 14) Syrian Islamist rebels blew up a government military post near Idlib by digging attack tunnels with UN equipment under the rocky terrain, Aljazeera reported.

As happened with Hamas terrorist use of United Nations facilities in Gaza this summer, the United Nations logo is clear seen on equipment used in the attack in a YouTube report posted by Aljazeera on the internet. The rebel group which identifies with Al Qaeda wiped out the army outpost, killing 60 Syrian soldiers and officers. The Arabic-language report showed preparations prior to the attack as well as its aftermath, and said it took 120 days to dig the tunnel.

The geological conditions are nearly identical to those on Israel’s northern border, and the incident made it clear that Hezbollah could – and might – do the same.

This summer, northern Israelis spoke of the possibility that Hezbollah was tunneling as well.

“I live in the house closest to the border, and from my window you can see everything happening on the other side in Lebanon,” said a resident in Zar’it, in August during an interview on Israel’s Channel 2 News Online.

“What I see scares me, and worries me very much. I can see concrete mixers working in secret. I feel, for more than two years now, digging sounds. My entire house moves and shakes, and it’s very disturbing.”

During the IDF’s 50-day counter terror Operation Protective Edge, the commander of the 769th Hiram Brigade addressed the issue in an interview with Channel 2 News, commenting, “The possibility of tunnels [also] disturbs me, along with other options that might exist here. Any reasonable person should put his eyes in his head and look south towards Gaza and say that if there are tunnels there, then all the more so there is this possibility here.”

Building the kind of complex tunnel network that was found in Gaza, however, takes years of work by a lot of people.

For the past two years Hezbollah was busy helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad combat the rebels in the civil war tearing apart his country. Prior to that they were re-arming following the 2006 Second Lebanon War with Israel. Who is helping them build tunnels?

Probably the North Koreans.

Hamas also made a deal with North Korea this year to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of weapons. Western intelligence sources said this summer the deal was sealed by a Lebanese middleman linked to Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists in eastern Beirut.

The North Koreans have been patrons of Hamas for years — and not only with weapons.

Apparently it was North Korea that taught Hamas how to build its network of tunnels under Gaza.

The Gazans may have had help from Hezbollah, but at best the Lebanese terrorists functioned as North Korean agents, providing secondhand knowhow at bargain basement prices.

Or perhaps Hamas went to Syria to learn the trade. Hamas had its political bureau in Damascus for years. Or they may have gone directly to Iran, the other North Korean partner.

According to a report on The National Interest website last month, North Korea has provided missiles and their technology to all four: Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah.

But now there’s even a bigger concern, according to Victor Cha, D.S. Song-KF Professor in the Department of Government and School of Foreign Service, and Director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International studies.

Hezbollah guerrillas are back on Israel’s northern border, even though they’re busy in Syria. The only question now is what they are planning to do, and when.

IDF soldiers on Mount Dov fired warning shots today (Monday) at a shepherd approaching the border fence from Lebanon. At least, it appeared to be a shepherd. Along the northern border, you really never know. Regardless, the “shepherd” retraced his steps.

There have been a rash of “shepherd” incidents in that area of late. Earlier this month, two unidentified people also approached the border fence, but they ignored warnings by the IDF to turn back.

That incident and several others constitute a sea change in what has, until now, been a relatively calm period on the border between Lebanon and Israel. The exceptions might be the token Katyusha attacks launched here and there during Operation Protective Edge this past summer. But since the end of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, it has been pretty quiet.

It’s not clear how much longer that calm will hold, according to reports from Lebanon.

The Shehab news agency reports the Hezbollah terror organization has “changed its policy” and is moving forces from Syria to deploy along the border with Israel.

The report, published in Arabic today on the news agency’s Facebook page, quotes one written in the leftist Israeli daily Ha’aretz that referenced an article published in the Lebanon-based Al-Akhbar newspaper. Al-Akhbar, which is believed to be linked with Hezbollah, reported that the terror group is again expanding its operations in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River.

The same move was seen prior to the Second Lebanon War. And this is now taking place despite the drain on the group’s resources due to its 3-year fight against Syrian rebels on alongside government forces for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Both Hezbollah and Assad are generously patronized by the Iranian government, which has also sent its elite Revolutionary Guards to help in the war effort.

The October 8 article in Al-Akhbar referred to the October 7 attack on an Israeli army patrol that left two IDF soldiers injured on Mount Dov, also known as the Sheba’a Farms.

Israeli media also reported on the attack, including JewishPress.com. “Initial reports indicate the explosive device was planted with the intent to attack soldiers,” read a statement from the IDF describing the attack.

Israel returned fire with mortar shells towards Sheba’a Farms and Kfar Shuba, the Hezbollah-linked Al Manar TV station reported. A second bomb was detonated along the same border area a couple of hours later, but no injuries were reported in the new attack.

A day earlier, IDF soldiers spotted a terror cell attempting to infiltrate into northern Israel. The soldiers fired at the infiltrators, and hit at least one, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, who said the cell raced back across the border into Lebanon.

“The incident has not ended,” a senior IDF source said.

A subsequent statement released by IDF Spokesperson Peter Lerner acknowledged the army had “responded to the unprovoked aggression against its forces and will continue to operate to maintain the safety of northern Israel.”

Just over eight years ago, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 ended the Second Lebanon War. The agreement has been violated by Hezbollah from the day the document was signed. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) charged with enforcing it has never actually done so — primarily because it can’t.

The document calls for the disarmament of all groups and entities in Lebanon other than the “legitimate” Lebanese Army. This was to include Hezbollah and any other terrorist organization.